


Careful

by ophelia_fics



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-23 02:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2530181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ophelia_fics/pseuds/ophelia_fics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now a collection of Season 3 Drabbles<br/>1. Careful (Post 3x2)<br/>2. Not Like This (3x20 speculation)<br/>3. Fade (3x21 speculation)<br/>4. Fractal (Mid Season 3)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not completely sure what this is…. mostly just me dipping my toes back in the fanfic world (it’s been awhile). Would love any feedback anyone wants to offer.

She’s careful around him now.

No more babbles, no more casual touches and definitely no teasing. Felicity has become a beacon of efficiency for their team. As far as he can tell, her focus has never been sharper. He asked for her A game and now receives it without fail. She’s given him everything he asked for and he would be a bastard to be anything other than grateful.

He hates every second of it.

Felicity hasn’t changed. Her light hasn’t dimmed, it’s just no longer directed at him. Instead, he watches in silence from the sidelines….never missing a thing as the glow of her affection lands on Roy and Digg and….. well, he’s currently trying not to think about assholes with helicopters that might also be starting to feel the distinct brightness of Felicity Smoak.

He thinks sometimes he can see a glimpse of her light when she looks at him. A little ray will peak through as she heads down the stairs and starts to chatter about getting her scarf caught in both her seat belt and ponytail at the same time and as she wonders how that’s even possible, he freezes and hopes that if he doesn’t move, doesn’t even breathe, maybe he’ll get to bask in her chatter for just ten more seconds.

He swears that would be enough.

Ten seconds of sunlight in his night— is that too much to want? But he never finds out because Felicity always remembers. Most days he thinks she doesn’t seem capable of meeting his eyes and doing anything but remember. And as the memories come, the words fade on her lips and the clouds roll in to cover the sun. And even though different versions of the same scene happen night after night, he still watches and waits for the glimpse of light that just won’t come back.

He wishes it would come back.

He knows now that he doesn’t want to die in the dark….but the path out of the trap of his own making seems beyond him. More than anything he wants to reach out a hand and ask Felicity to come back even though she never left. He’s desperate for her to look at him and see something (anything) that doesn’t make her fall silent. He wants to ask what she sees when she looks at him, but his overwhelming fear of her answer keeps him silent. Felicity used to look at him and see a hero. These days he’s not so sure.

She’s careful around him now.


	2. Not Like This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: "It wasn't supposed to happen like this"
> 
> Speculation Drabble about the morning after...written before Episode 20 aired.

He watches her in the flickering candlelight. Her breath is steady and she smiles a little in her sleep. As usual, he can feel an answering tug at the corner of his mouth but after a few seconds, it falls away.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.

Oliver’s not sure how it was supposed to happen, precisely, but he does know that making love to Felicity was never going to be about saying goodbye. He closes his eyes and all he can see are flashes of her over him….under him…completely surrounding him… the memories stoking the flames of the fire that is forever smoldering in him when it comes to her. He finds himself reaching for the hand resting on her hip when her sleepy voice startles him.

“How is it possible you still have a frowny face after all of the ways I just manhandled you, Oliver?”

Again, the corner of his mouth tugs up. He meets her eyes, ready to apologize for all the ways he’s about to let her down, but Felicity ignores him and continues talking.

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to turn that frown upside. You and I both know we earned a much better after glow than what you’re currently sporting.”

He huffs a laugh in spite of himself, the slow burn in his bones kicking up a degree when she rolls over and uses one hand to smooth a light path through his hair. Sighing, Felicity uses her other hand to cup his chin and rub a thumb over his cheek , “At least you have the sex hair I expected.” Her toes nudge his calves as she grins, “I really, really like your sex hair.”

Oliver’s eyes close as he’s suddenly overwhelmed with amusement and love and frustration and a thousand other emotions. The words come out before he can stop them. “Felicity, I love you, but it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” Opening his eyes to meet hers, he expects to see disappointment or even anger. What Oliver doesn’t expect is for Felicity to roll her eyes and lean over to kiss him gently.

“Oliver, I love you too, and it was always going to happen like this.”

He gives her a baffled look. “In Nanda Parbat when I’m about to become the leader a group of assassins?”

Felicity quirks an eyebrow “One might even call it a League.” Shaking her head, she kisses his cheek “You” She kisses his other cheek “Me” She kisses his forehead “Facing every fight the world throws at us” She kisses his lips. “Together.“

His smiles at her as he presses his forehead gently into hers. The warmth has spread through him completely and he finds that he simply can’t help it.

Resting her nose against his, Felicity grazes another soft kiss against his lips. “It was always, always going to happen like this, Oliver.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would love any thoughts/reviews anyone cares to share!


	3. Fade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilery Speculation for Episode 21.

“Oliver. Stop. What are you doing? This isn’t you.”

She couldn’t keep the tears from dripping down her chin and falling on her shirt, but Felicity made sure her voice was strong. She needed him to hear her. He had to hear her. But as he stood, arrow still drawn and pointed at a bound and gagged Diggle, Oliver gave no indication that she’d said anything. She couldn’t see his face through the black mask he wore– only his emotionless eyes were visible. Felicity stepped closer, avoiding the hand that Malcom quickly shot out to try and catch her arm.

“Oliver. Don’t act like you can’t hear me.” Her voice cracked and the revealed weakness infuriated her and gave Felicity the strength to take another step. “I don’t care what kind of stupid I’m a Scary Dude in an Ancient Killer Cult brainwashing they gave you, Oliver Queen, put the damn bow down.” But still, he didn’t move and a sob escaped as she glanced over and saw the blood oozing from a gash on Diggle’s forehead. John was starting look more than a little woozy and she knew she was running out of time. Felicity looked back up and her next words came out as a whisper.

“Please. Don’t do this.”

Strangely, it was the whisper that seemed to catch his ear. The arrow remained pointed at Diggle, but Oliver’s eyes strayed to hers. An eyebrow twitched when he saw the tears on her cheeks.

Felicity saw the slight movement and caught her breath. “Oliver?”

He gave a slight shake of his head but didn’t look away from her. When she took another step closer, the arrow wavered for the first time. Ignoring Diggle’s muffled protests, Felicity moved to step completely in front of him. The arrow was pointed at her now and she took a deep breath. “You want to kill him, you’ll have to go through me.” Wiping the tears off her cheeks she tried to smile at him. “I love you. I love you and I‘m not going to let you do this.”

Somehow even through the mask, Felicity could tell Oliver was frowning at her. This time the arrow dropped completely and he looked away and shook his head slightly again. He startled her when he finally spoke. His voice was hesitant and cracked a few times.

“I don’t…. what are you…” He met her eyes again “I am Al-Sahim. Heir to the Demon. Why are you doing this?”

A few more steps was all it took for Felicity to find herself directly in front of him. Reaching out a hand, she lightly rested it on his arm, careful not to spook him.

“Because we’re a family, Oliver. We’re your family. You may not completely remember that right now, but I’ll remember for you. For as long as it takes, I’ll remember.”

He stood motionless but continued to watch her intently. Felicity couldn’t see anything but those damn eyes and she wanted to see his face. She needed to see his face. Slowly, she moved her hand up his arm. Sliding past his shoulder, her hand brushed the black mask. When he made no move to stop her, Felicity’s other hand came up and she slowly pulled the mask down. As the material fell and hung loosely around his neck, she smoothed her hands over the stubble on his cheeks. The touch of her skin on his seemed to spark something in him. Oliver blinked a few times, looking over at Malcom who was untying Diggle, before returning his gaze to her. This time when he looked at her, there was a swirl of emotions in his eyes. Tears spilled out onto her cheeks as a twinge that felt a lot like hope flared to life in her chest.

When he spoke again, his voice sounded stronger. “Felicity?”

She brought her hands up from his face to pull his black hood down. Smiling at him through her tears, Felicity ran her hands over his shaved head and back down over his cheeks. Then, gently gripping his chin, she looked at him intently before giving a soft sigh and bringing her hands to rest on either side of his neck.

Oliver gave her a hesitant smile. “How do I look?”

Giving him a laugh that was really more of a sob, Felicity reached up to kiss him. She could feel the tension in his body, but as he gently kissed her back, her last hints of fear began to melt away. When they finally parted, she rested her forehead against his and the words came out as little more than a whisper.

“Like a hero.”


	4. Fractal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity POV drabble that takes place Mid Season 3 after Oliver leaves to fight Ra's

Sometimes she wonders what the pattern of leaving means. She's too self aware to let herself dwell on the the "sad little girl left behind" thing -- but on the other hand, she's too methodical to not notice a pattern staring her in the face.

Bits and pieces of information that all come together to make a big picture is her thing. In the electronic world, no one is more capable than her of putting it all together to figure out what people are attempting to hide. To uncover the truth. Felicity Smoak HATES mysteries. They bug her. But this one's eluding her.

She can see the bits of emotion and the pieces of decisions and the gaping holes where people (let's be honest-- _men_ ) used to be in her heart. But she can't quite put the puzzle together of the WHY. It's a looping scene in her life-- Love and then lose. She sees the effect, but the cause has been escaping her grasp since she was too tiny to understand what truth she was chasing as she cried in her room at night.

This. _This_ is why she's careful. Methodically paying attention to the each step along the way, making sure there are no misunderstandings-- she has rules about these things. Important rules.

_You mean a DATE, date?_

It was. But then it wasn't. And still, she tried to warn him. Make everything clear. Once they talked, it would be over. They did and it was. And she refused to dwell in the grey area of unknown emotion because that's where the mistakes happen. He either wanted to be with her or he didn't. Black or White. He made his choice and so she made it clear for both of them. She could see all of the pieces and the pattern should have made sense.

Except.

He leaves and all she feels is the gaping sense of loss. Again. But not again because this loss is more. Complete. Some days she's sure his absence will swallow her whole.

Oliver's life was always a giant mystery. He didn’t follow her rules and the only pattern he ever seemed capable of was hating himself no matter what might happen to convince him otherwise. He kisses her but willingly watches her walk away. He tells her he loves her but then _he_ walks away.

And then?

He never comes back and no one knows what really happened and everything she thought she knew is blown to hell. All she’s left with is an immense hole where the pieces of it all used to be.

She hates mysteries but she loves Oliver and there's never been anything precise about it.


End file.
